- "Now we just hope that your engineers were right about what they needed."
"Sure. Once we're free and clear of the Mid Rim, we get to put this whole botched retreat in the past. Lick our wounds before the next massacre." - ―Everi Chalis and First Sergeant Hazram Namir, during a raid in the Redhurne system
The Metatessu sector was located in the Mid Rim Territories and was home to at least four star systems. One of them, the Redhurne system, eventually became a site for the mining of materials for hypermatter after a supernova cracked open its inner planets and exposed their cores to radiation from the collapsed star fragment that remained. In 3 ABY, the Rebel Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry, also called Twilight Company, was present in the Metatessu sector, where forces of the Galactic Empire followed a trail of hypermatter left by the company's CR90 corvette Thunderstrike.
The Empire subsequently attacked Twilight Company in three different systems of the sector before the latter learned of the leak. The company then carried out a raid on an Imperial heavy freighter in the Redhurne system to gather resources needed to repair the Thunderstrike's leak. Having been tracking the Thunderstrike, Imperial Captain Tabor Seitaron began discussing alternative measures, choosing to seek out other damaged rebel starships that had escaped fighting in the Metatessu sector.
Description[]
The Metatessu sector was located in Mid Rim Territories. It included the Enrivi system, the Chonsetta system, the Redhurne system, and at least one other star system.[1]
History[]
Thunderstrike's trail[]
- "That trail was a stroke of fortune, but surely wars are not won through luck?"
- ―Prelate Verge, to Tabor Seitaron, on the Thunderstrike's hypermatter leak
Centuries prior to the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, the star of the Redhurne system underwent a supernova that devastated the system, wiping out all traces of life and breaking apart the innermost planets. The post-supernova fragment left by the star emitted radiation into the broken planets' cores, transmuting materials into new ones that formed the building blocks of hypermatter[1] like coaxium.[2] The cores were subsequently mined during the final days of the Galactic Republic, and mining stations supplied the Galactic Empire by the time of the Galactic Civil War.[1] In 1 ABY,[3] the MC80 Star Cruiser Aurora Flare stopped in the Redhurne system before traveling with a load of coaxium to[4] the ocean planet[5] Mon Cala.[4]
In 3 ABY,[6] the Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry, better known as Twilight Company, was present in the Metatessu sector during the Alliance Fleet's withdrawal from the Mid Rim. However, the Thunderstrike, Twilight Company's CR90 corvette, had a hypermatter leak due to damage suffered by its hyperdrive during a prior engagement in the Kontahr sector. The leak came to the attention of the Imperial Captain Tabor Seitaron, who was working with Prelate Verge to track the company in order to capture the defected Imperial Governor Everi Chalis. Operating from Verge's[1] the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer[7] Herald, Seitaron liaised with Imperial forces in the sector to intercept Twilight Company.[1]
While Twilight Company was at the edge of a lifeless system with a crimson sun, an Imperial destroyer attacked the rebel starships—the Thunderstrike, the Braha'tok-class gunship Apailana's Promise, and two X-wing starfighters—which escaped soon after. Thirty hours later, an Imperial light cruiser and a TIE/ln space superiority starfighter squadron attacked the company in the Enrivi system. Twilight Company's vessels were able to obliterate the attacking force and move on. Nineteen hours after that, a squadron of TIE/IN interceptors attacked the company after hiding in a comet trail, further damaging the Thunderstrike.[1]
The hunt develops[]
- "We can't find her ship, and we can't locate a base directly. But our forces just chased half the Alliance out of the Mid Rim. How many other rebel ships managed to escape an engagement in this sector after sustaining damage—in the past week, say? How many others need repairs, as well?"
- ―Tabor Seitaron, to Verge
Aboard the Thunderstrike, the engineering droid M2-M5 identified the hypermatter leak. Reports also came of three Imperial battle groups leaving active warzones to help hunt Twilight Company. In an emergency meeting, senior officers and bridge crew of the company decided to attack an Imperial cargo transport to gather supplies necessary for repairs on their corvette's leak. Twilight Company traveled to the Redhurne system, where its starships ambushed an Imperial heavy freighter and sent squads of rebel soldiers onto it through boarding pods. The rebel boarding party successfully extracted the resources needed and withdrew to the Thunderstrike. Although an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser arrived to engage Twilight Company, the rebels were then nonetheless able to escape the system.[1]
With his plan being unsuccessful, Seitaron and Verge discussed other ways to pursue Twilight Company while the Herald was still in the Metatessu sector. In that conversation, Seitaron thought of an idea to hunt another rebel ship that had escaped an engagement damaged in the sector, ones that might need repairs like the Thunderstrike. His officers produced a list of several dozen vessels that had fled battles damaged in the Metatessu sector in the last week. Seitaron's ideas culminated with the rebel light freighter Trumpet's Call, which was captured and used to infiltrate the Thunderstrike at a rebel flotilla in the Elochar sector.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
The Metatessu sector appeared in the 2015 novel Battlefront: Twilight Company, written by Alexander Freed.[1] A map created for the reference book Star Wars: Timelines and published as part of a blog post on StarWars.com on May 27, 2022 prior[8] to the book's release on April 25, 2023[9] placed the Enrivi system[10] of the Metatessu sector[1] in an area of space that, in the Star Wars Legends continuity, fell within the Kastolar and Halla sectors.[11]
Appearances[]
- Battlefront: Twilight Company (First appearance, simultaneous with Battlefront: Twilight Company audiobook)
- Battlefront: Twilight Company audiobook
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 Battlefront: Twilight Company
- ↑ "Explosives, Heavy Weapons, and Power Sources" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of Star Wars (2015) 49, including the mentions of the Redhurne system, to 1 ABY.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Star Wars (2015) 49
- ↑ Mon Cala in the Databank (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines dates the main events of Battlefront: Twilight Company to 3 ABY.
- ↑ Star Wars: The Rebel Files
- ↑ SWCA 2022: 7 Things We Learned from the Lucasfilm Publishing Behind the Page Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars Timelines on Amazon.com (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars Galaxy Map
- ↑ The Essential Atlas